These Folks Are Lucky To Be Alive After Driving Into Giant Sinkhole

After a massive storm system hit parts of the Midwest on Monday evening, many area residents were without power, flooding was rampant, travel plans were thwarted and a massive suburban Chicago sinkhole swallowed up two cars.

Officers arrived at the scene in rural Kane County, about 50 miles west of Chicago, around 4 a.m. Tuesday after they received a call reporting that a car had driven into a sinkhole about 10 feet in diameter, WGN reports.

A 41-year-old woman was driving the car that went into the sinkhole, which was deep enough so that her entire vehicle -- a Ford Taurus -- was below ground level. It was wide enough that it stretched across the entire road, according to the Daily Herald.

While the woman and her 15-year-old son waited for authorities to arrive, a second vehicle, a Chevrolet pickup truck, also fell into the hole, driving over the top of the Taurus.

The two people inside the Taurus were taken to area hospitals and treated for non-life-threatening injuries before being released, while the driver of the pickup truck was treated and released at the scene.

Police say the sinkhole opened up in a rural area that lacks street lights and that, had the circumstances been slightly different, the scene "could have been real tragic," CBS Chicago reports. Officials did not immediately know what might have caused the sinkhole in addition to the stormy weather.